Grimm: Sands of Sorrow
by MissLolaBelle
Summary: Although a happy life at home with Juliette, Nick and Hank get caught up in a strange string of murder cases. needing help, Nick turns to Monroe which only leads the pair in to a fight for survival. A story of a race against time to save friendship and love. contains mild sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

Like ships in the night, Juliette and Nick pass on the stairs, she had just finished a night stint at a local farm tending to a horse and Nick had been woken by a call from Hank informing him on a strange possible killing at a large residence.

"How was your night Juliette?" Nick asked as he gave her cheek a soft kiss as his morning greeting to her.

Juliette gently hummed the last song she had heard on the radio in her car but smiled at her boyfriends loving affection for her.

"Oh you dont even want to know." She replied as she continued to haul her over tired body up the stairs.

"That good huh?!" Nick replied with a smile as he continued down the stairs. "I will see you this evening Juliette, I've got a case to get to... but we will make time for each other tonight. I promise!" He called as he grabbed his black jacket and swung it over his shoulder.

He heard a faint call back which sounded to him like, "I will look forward to it."

Snatching his keys from the sideboard, Nick made his way to his car and set off to the crime scene.

* * *

"You got here quicker than I thought." Hank said as Nick walked in to the 6 bed home of the latest mysterious murder.

"Yeah the traffic was kind. So what do we have here?" Nick asked as he stepped over a path of gold glitter, he followed his partner through the hall and up the winding stairs of the property. Nick eyed a lot of expensive portraits and even a gold record or two as he ascended the steps up in to a large well lit bedroom.

"Well it's a weird one..." Hank replied as both the men walked over to the obvious dead body that lay in the satin red sheets of an expensive looking bed. Gold glitter adorned the body and pretty much every surface in the room "... The cleaning lady found him dead this morning, there was no struggle, no fight, no forced entry but the guy was only 23 years of age. A bit soon to die a death during a sleep in the night." Hank concluded.

Nick searched the body with his eyes. The deceased look peaceful, if not sparkly enough to dance on broadway. The eyes were shut and the mans body looked relaxed as he lay still tucked up in bed.

Slipping a blue glove on to his hand, nick took the sparkling glittered wrist of the deceased in his palm and pulled the arm upwards. "No pill bottles? No needle marks? Any sign of drug use or overdose?" Nick queried as he took a second glance at the familiar face of the dead body that lay in the bed. "Hey! Isn't he-"

"Jason Harlow!" Hank interupted as he finished Nick's sentance. "The drummer of that boy band from england." He concluded.

Nick nodded. "Juliet was humming one of their songs this morning." He said as he looked again at the famous face of the now very dead drummer of the latest fad band.

"The only thing that suggests there was any kind of foul play is the amount of glitter that is in here. It is all over the place! it carries on down the stairs and out the door." Hank said with a yawn as he rubbed a pinch of the sparkling gold glitter between his finger tips and let it fall back down to the floor. "The footprints we found in the glitter that didn't belong to the cleaner faced the frontdoor so we know this guy died first then his sparkly visitor left after leaving the trail of glitter and obvious sneaker prints." Hank explained to his partner.

"Maybe a sex game gone wrong or perhaps having a personal party and some pills were swallowed which caused his death?... either way we will have to get the body and the glitter checked out further. Maybe there is a craft shop nearby that will remember someone buying so much of it." Nick added. His eyes scanned the room which was neat and tidy apart from the glitter. He then looked back to the body on the bed. "A lot of teenage hearts are going to be broken when the news on this gets out." He said as he stood up straight and walked over to the door.

With a shrug hank nodded. "He has probably doubled the record sales by dying." He said truthfully.

Nick raised an eyebrow to this thought. "How many other band members are there? 3?" He asked.

"Just two more I think... not that I listened to it!" Hank said defensively, hoping his partner wouldn't think he listened to boybands or pop music.

"Maybe it will be beneficial to check out their where abouts for last night while we are waiting for the autopsy report and lab results.

"I'm on it." Hank said reaching for his cell.

As nick listened in to the one ended conversation of hank trying to track two other members of the boyband down he scanned the room once again. The expensive furniture and designer clothes caught his eye.

"23..." he muttered. "Such a waste."

* * *

Having had the day to herself, Juliette didn't get to catch up on the sleep she desperately wanted due to a neighbours dog that wouldn't stop barking, but she got lots of chores about the house done. She had even baked a basket of muffins for a new family that had moved in down the street. By 8pm though she was exhausted and had fallen to sleep on the couch watching lame Tuesday night TV.

As Nick walked in from his days work and saw his sleeping beauty he smiled. Keeping his footsteps light, he tiptoed over to the couch and swept Juliettes hair back from her face. "Let's get you up to bed." He whispered as he gently picked her up bridal style and carried her small frame effortlessly up the stairs and lay her down on the bed causing her to eventually stir.

"You're home." She whispered out with a smile. "I tried to stay awake but my eyes just got so heavy." She explained as Nick removed his shirt and flung it on the chair in the corner of the room.

Nick kissed his girlfriend on the lips, the love he felt for this one woman was insane. "You should get back to sleep Juliette." He said softly, the scruff in her hair making his heart warm for her even more.

"You promised me some Nick time... I've been looking forward to it all day. Sleep or no sleep!" She said matter of factly. Taking Nicks hand she pulled him gently on to the bed beside her.

"How can I resist a plea from such a beautiful lady." Nick replied as he wrapped his muscular arms around the girl of his dreams.

Juliette felt warm and safe in the confines of her mans arms, his scent was the most attractive thing she had ever smelt, it wasn't a cologne or a deoderant, it was just how Nick had always smelt and she adored it. She rubbed her hand on the side of his face, a slight stubble now in place. She liked the feel of the roughness as it grazed against her thumb.

Taking in the satisfying sight of Nicks bare chest she then ran a hand through the small patch of hair that grew there.

"I missed you today." Juliette said in a whisper as she looked in to the big beautiful kind eyes of her boyfriend.

"I missed you more." Nick replied softly, his own thumb now caressing the collar bone that had caught his eye, he had always found Juliettes neck a very sexy part of her body, he gave the area a kiss, allowing his tongue to trace gently over her skin.

Juliette smiled with the knowledge that her 'Nick time' was well and truly on its way.

* * *

A constant ringing noise was the offender that woke Nick up early in the morning. On hunting his cell down in his pants that he found tossed on the floor Nick noted that the time was just gone 4.

With his eyes still trying to focus he vaguely saw that it was Hank who was calling him.

"Hank... it's 4 am!" He grumbled down the telephone.

"Hey, man. I know, I know. Uniform finally tracked down one of the other band members. You are going to want to see this." He said knowingly.

Nick rubbed his tired eyes with his free hand. "Give me the address and I will be straight there." He replied.


	2. Chapter 2

"More glitter!" Nick said as he walked on to the crime scene of the latest victims penthouse suite.

Hank raised an eyebrow. "The lab report came back on the glitter... get this! It's not glitter it's sand! Pure sand, no paint, no spray.. no nothing! Just gold sand." He revealed to his partner.

Nick took a good look at the sparkly gold dusting that his feet walked in. "How the hell is that sand?" He asked as his mind boggled at how any kind of sand could be so shiny without being tampered with.

"That's not even the strangest part, come and see the body." Hank said sounding slightly excited over seeing a dead body.

Walking through to the kitchen in the pent house Nick was greeted by sergeant Wu who was carrying out a small dead dog in an evidence bag. "Its a dog's life eh?" Wu said as he raised the tiny bagged Chihuahua that was covered in glitter in front of Nicks face.

Feeling repulsed, Nick gave Wu a grimace. Hank chuckled dryly in the back ground.

"Please don't tell me you got me up at 4am to tend to a dead dog?" Nick said to his partner.

"Nope! There is the body." He said pointing to the dining table.

As Nick turned in the direction of Hanks index finger he saw a man, once again covered in glitter. This man though was sat at his dining table. It looked as if he died while eating his dinner. A plate of half eaten pasta was to the side of where his lifeless head now lay on the dark wood table.

"Were there prints in the glitter trail again?" Nick asked as his eyebrows knitted together on his forehead as he tried to make any sense from the situation that was before him.

"Yeah there were prints, different sole print but same shoe size... the bizarre thing is that he died looking quite content, nice meal, The dog was in the basket curled up... it's like time just stopped for them." Hank replied.

Nick scratched his head. "Have forensics done their thing?" He asked to which hank nodded.

Producing an examination glove, and placing it on his hand Nick inspected the body further. With a yawn for the early wake up call he dusted the sand from the body and inspected it a little further.

Nick shuddered as he placed his hand on the body of the lead singer of the famous boy band. He could feel the coldness of death through his blue glove as he tipped the young man's head up and looked in his mouth. "He didn't choke from what I can see... I take it the dog didn't attack him in any way?" He asked hank with an amused eye.

"A Chihuahua, Nick! C'mon." Came Hanks amused reply.

Nick shrugged. "I'm stumped... completely stumped, two dead men, both 23 years old... a dead dog... and gold sand." He said as he ticked things over in his head. "A suicide pack?" He then said to hank as a last ditch attempt to an easy outcome.

Shaking his head, hank rubbed his hand on his chin as he stood in the open plan kitchen of the pop stars pent house. "Harper called and said the first body, Jason Harlow had a full bill of health... apart from being dead of course." He replied with the raise of an eyebrow. "She said it was natural causes, the heart just slowed and stopped. I doubt he was even aware of it." He concluded.

"So the sand is definitely a big sandy elephant in the room here then... an allergy to sand perhaps? Or maybe it had been treated with a gas... maybe?" Nick said clutching at straws.

"The sand is clean, no trace of anything deadly in it. We are still trying to track down the third member of the band. Wu said that they had recently split up. Maybe they just pissed off their fairy godmother." Hank said with a chuckle as he kicked some of the glitter-like sand with his foot.

Nick nodded "... Yeah maybe" he said distantly. "Listen hank, I'm going to try and figure out where all this sand is coming from, if you try and get hold of the last member of the band without him dying then that would be great!" Nick said as he pulled his cell from his pocket and walked toward the door of the pent house.

Hitting dial on his phone, Nick looked up to the sky in desperation that his bizarre life as a Grimm always interfered with his work.

"Nick!... Hey... I'm guessing it's a good reason that you are calling just after 5am for?" Monroe answered sarcastically.

"Monroe! Hey... Yeah I need your help with something." Nick replied quietly down the phone.

"And it couldn't wait until ten?" Came the dry response from Monroe's lips.

Nick sighed down the phone at his friends lack of emergency in his attitude. "Monroe do you know anything about sand?" Nick replied, regardless.

"Yeah you find it on the beach." Monroe quipped.

"Okay... what about gold sand... that looks like glitter?" He asked.

A small silence erupted down the phone line "Oh man..." Monroe finally said. "You do have troubles!"

"Can you meet me in the trailer?" Nick asked urgently.

"Yeah sure, Nick... what time?" Monroe asked his unlikely friend.

"Now." Came the answer that the sleepy blutbad didn't want to hear.

"Now?... of course... it's not like I was doing anything." Monroe replied as he stretched his body out from his bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Nick listened in to the early morning rain as a light tap came to the metallic door of aunt Marie's former trailer.

Getting up from the small desk space he was sat at, Nick opened up the door.

"Thanks for coming over, I'm sorry it's so early." He said to his tired looking friend.

"It's okay man... who needs sleep." Monroe replied as he swept his wet hair back from his face and came on board. The old artifacts that were crammed in the trailer always excited him. He would see new things on each visit that he hadn't noticed on the last.

"So you know what all this glittery sand is about?" Nick queried as he sat back down in his chair.

"Do I ever!" Monroe began as he too found a small place to rest his backside on in the trailer. "It sounds like you have an irate Goldstaub on your hands. Please don't tell me there is a murder spree of the Goldstaub kind?" He finished with wide eyes.

Nick nodded as he rested his chin on his hands. "It's looking likely... I have two dead 23 year old heart throbs and a dead pet Chihuahua... no wounds, no drugs, no suffocation even. What is a Goldstaub?" Nick asked the question that he didn't really want an answer to.

Monroe wore a worried expression. "When you were little did your mom ever tell you about the guy that comes in the night and sends you to sleep?" He asked.

"You are telling me the sand man is on murder spree?" Nick replied sarcastically.

"I think they prefer the term 'sand people' now. Feminism is every where." Monroe retorted. "But basically yeah... Goldstaub are usually harmless but if they are in a line of criminal work they usually dabble in late night burglary... it's easy for them to send the home owners in to a nice deep sleep and rob them blind."

"So how do they kill?" Nick asked as he reached for his book of monsters to see if there was a Goldstaub in there.

"Overdose of sand." Monroe replied simply. "When you fall to sleep your body goes in to rest mode, your heart rate slows and your body becomes immobile once you reach deep sleep... if someone is exposed to too much Goldstaub sand then the victim will become extremely sleepy, almost to the point of delusional, once they reach deep sleep the body becomes immobile and the heart rate slows until it stops."

"Uh hu." Nick replied as he listened to Monroe and looked at the picture that was drawn in aunt maries book of lore of a Goldstaub. It was the prettier of the wessen he had come across in its monster form, angel like with a gold aura around them.

"How come it hasn't killed me by being in contact with so much sand then?" Nick asked looking up to his friend.

"The sand is at it's most potent when it's first unleashed. It will kill anything in the same room given a large amount. But the properties wear off pretty quickly making it a one use only kind of substance. It will probably make you feel drowsy if you touched it though." Monroe said enthusiastically

"Well that explains the dead dog at least. Why would a Goldstaub want a pop group dead though?" Nick said rhetorically.

"... for adding to an already terrible music scene?" Monroe said trying to be helpful.

A small smile danced on nicks lips. "Seriously though... Is there like a counter attack available to stop the sand from killing?" He asked after seeing the book of lore didn't offer much assistance in the knowledge of Goldstaub.

"Well its a bit more complicated than drinking a redbull to stop it but it is curable. Rosalee will know it, it's a mixture of herbs and coco beans but if the victim reaches deep sleep it's too late." He said making a slice motion against his neck with his hand.

Nick let out a deep sigh. "It seems almost impossible to even find the Goldstaub." He said to Monroe as his mind worked over time.

"I've not come across one in years so I can't help you there I'm afraid." Monroe said just as nicks shrill sounding ring from his cell phone erupted in to the room making both men jump.

"Hank! You have any news?" Nick said down the telephone.

"Hey, Nick... Yeah we found the third member of the band." Hank replied in to his receiver.

"Alive?" Nick queried.

"Yeah, he is with me now in the station, I was just about to question him. Did you want me to wait for you?" Hank asked.

"If you could buddy yeah... if you could." Nick replied as he closed up his book of monsters.

* * *

Author note, thanks for the great reviews and the follows, I'm only halfway through season two on Grimm, so if they have come across the "sand man" already I'm not aware of it yet.

Thanks for reading, Lola x


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